On October 23, 2008, Temple College professor Kerry Laird was ordered to remove a satirical cartoon from his office door by Interim Vice President of Educational Services and Chief Academic Officer Mark Smith. Later that day, Laird placed a sign on his office door that said, “Gott ist tot,” a Freidrich Nietzsche quote that translates to “God… Read more

This fall, FIRE is writing a blog series about how schools can reform their problematic speech codes and earn a "green light" rating from us—a distinction currently awarded to just 16 of the more than 400 schools in our Spotlight database, but one we hope to be able to award to many more in the… Read more

Temple University has addressed FIRE’s concerns over the university’s decision to charge $800 in extra security fees for a presentation by controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders this past October, hosted by the student group Temple University Purpose (TUP). Unfortunately, in her January 21 letter—arriving the day after FIRE’s press release criticizing the action—Temple Associate General… Read more

Commentators and academic organizations from a variety of political viewpoints have recently denounced campus speech codes, echoing the alarm that FIRE has sounded for the past decade. In a January 2 Wall Street Journal op-ed, Peter Berkowitz discussed the need for fellow conservatives to find common ground after what many interpreted as a national repudiation of their views in the November elections. Social conservatives and… Read more

I’m not sure what happened down in Texas in 2008, but administrators at several schools have been unusually cowardly about even the slightest challenges to their ideas of good order on campus. During the election season there was the Great Non-Riot of 2008 at the University of Texas at Austin (UT), where two students faced… Read more

Yesterday, FIRE went public with its efforts to protect the constitutional rights of Binghamton University graduate student Andre Massena. As you’ve already seen from Adam’s earlier Torch post, yesterday’s press release quickly brought the issue to the national stage, with the story appearing at The Volokh Conspiracy and in The Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription… Read more

It looks like Temple College’s president, Glenda Barron, is getting her house in order. About one hour after we wrote to her about the censorship of the words “God is dead” (in German) on Professor Kerry Laird’s door, she announced to all faculty and staff that such censorship had been “inappropriate.” Yesterday, the college announced… Read more

Last Thursday, FIRE’s press release described our latest victory for freedom of expression at Temple College (Texas), where the school’s president quickly reversed the censorship of a religiously themed cartoon and the Nietzsche quotation “God is dead” after receiving a letter from FIRE. In today’s episode of FIREside Chats, Adam Kissel, Director of FIRE’s Individual… Read more

FIRE scored another victory for free speech and academic freedom this week with its successful intervention on behalf of Kerry Laird, an instructor at Temple College (TX) who was ordered to remove a religiously themed cartoon and a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche translating to "God is dead" from his office door. Within half an hour… Read more

In a victory for freedom of expression, Temple College President Glenda O. Barron has quickly reversed the censorship of a religiously themed cartoon and the Nietzsche quotation “God is dead.” A vice president required the removal of postings English Professor Kerry Laird had affixed to his office door because they “can be considered very controversial… Read more

TEMPLE, Texas, November 6, 2008—In a victory for freedom of expression, Temple College President Glenda O. Barron has quickly reversed the censorship of a religiously themed cartoon and the Nietzsche quotation “God is dead.” After Mark Smith, Interim Vice President of Educational Services and Chief Academic Officer, forced English Professor Kerry Laird’s postings to be… Read more

November 5, 2008 President Glenda O. Barron Temple College 2600 South First Street Temple, Texas 76504-7435 Sent via U.S. Mail and Facsimile (254-298-8277) Dear President Barron: As you can see from the list of our Directors and Board of Advisors, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) unites leaders in the fields of civil… Read more